I just wanted to get some feedback for what I'm seeing is an increasing issue online.

About 5 weeks ago my Mazda6 started to tick from the engine. This was happening in idle and the tick increased to sound like popcorn at higher revs. To my knowledge it sounded metalic or plastic (like a valve) and not a belt or chain issue. I checked the oil and found that it was almost bone dry after only being filled 4 weeks previous.

I did some research and found that there were a lot of other 6's with the same issue that guys had been reporting.

I took the car to my regular mechanic who flushed every valve and crossed checked every inlet and couldn't find the issue. He changed the oil to be double sure and still it didn't resolve the tick. It didn't seem to be a valve.

I then took my car to a Mazda service centre who had the car for one day and diagnosed it a timing chain issue. To me it didn't seem the case as it didn't relate to the oil issue but I put my faith in their informed judgement and went ahead with the AU$2300 to get the entire chain and mechanisms replaced. A few day ago they called to inform me that the chain had been replaced though the tick was still there. The manager there told me that to solve this I need an engine replacement which will set me back AU$6600.

So this is where it gets interesting. My car is only 7 years old and has only done 100,00kms. It's a Luxury Sports model and is immaculate; complete service history, detailed fortnightly and garanged. I treat is so well, so how could I warrent an entire engine replacement? I've done all I can as to owner to maintain it mechanically so this issue must me a technical fault in the engine design.

I've told Mazda servicing that I'll be taking this issue up with Mazda Australia as this is an unjust resolution and undeserving considering the state of my car.

What I'm asking is if anyone else has had a similar issue. Do you know what it could be or what's caused it? Do you believe that it needs a complete engine replacement? Has anyone raised this with Mazda and had success?

I had the same issue with my 2008. Had a spun rod bearing pretty exactly at 100K miles.
The oil level was on the lower end of what it should be. Still not sure why it was starving for oil. However The reason why they wanna replace the whole engine is that they do not make any spare parts for that motor. Out of the dealership you can not get a new crank or over size pistons and so on. All they offer is a long block. Any spare parts need to be pieced together with aftermarket parts.
I got me a used engine swapped my head on (that I had reworked at the machine shop) and used the block, crank and piston/rod assembly. All the other parts I replaced with new parts. Worked well for me and was way less then $6600.

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